08/11/2026
For decades, we’ve been told: choose low-fat dairy.
But is full-fat dairy really as unhealthy as we’ve been led to believe?
A new randomized controlled trial published in The Journal of Nutrition found that adults consuming 3 servings of full-fat dairy per day for 12 weeks did not experience significant worsening in body weight, body fat, waist circumference, or fasting cholesterol.
But there are some important caveats.
The study was relatively small and short-term—and it received funding that included support from Dairy Farmers of Canada.
So, does this prove full-fat dairy is healthier than low-fat dairy? No.
But it adds to a growing body of research suggesting something much more interesting: we may be oversimplifying nutrition when we judge an entire food based on a single nutrient like saturated fat.
The food matrix—the way fat exists alongside protein, calcium, fermentation products, and the physical structure of foods like cheese and yogurt—may influence how our bodies actually respond to it.
My takeaway: saturated fat still matters. But the food it comes from may matter too.
